(a) Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to liquid crystal displays. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to liquid crystal displays having reduced parasitic capacitance.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display is currently one of the most widely used types of flat panel displays. The typical liquid crystal display includes two display panels on which field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed, and a liquid crystal layer that is disposed therebetween. An image is displayed by applying a voltage to a field generating electrode to generate an electric field on the liquid crystal layer, which determines alignment of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer and controls polarization of incident light.
The liquid crystal display also includes switching elements connected to individual pixel electrodes, and a plurality of signal lines, such as gate lines and data lines, for controlling the switching elements so as to apply voltages to the pixel electrodes.
Different methods exist for driving the liquid crystal display. In one method, data voltages of the same polarity are applied in a pixel column direction. However, in this driving method, a charging capacitance charged to the liquid crystal layer for each pixel column is altered by unnecessary coupling between a voltage applied to a data line and a voltage applied to a common electrode, such that display quality may be decreased.
To prevent undesired capacitive coupling between the data line and the common electrode, a conventional solution involves a shielding electrode applied with the same voltage as the common voltage applied to the common electrode. However, when using this shielding electrode, luminance of the liquid crystal display is reduced and a short between the shielding electrode and the data line may be generated, reducing yield of the liquid crystal display.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information not in the prior art.